13/06/2004

DARKMOON - ZATOKREV

SWEET MASSACRE - CARNAGE

at Jugend- und Kulturhaus FABRIK in Muttenz (CH)

05th June 2004

live review by Boris "Azrael" Witta

INTRO

When Darkmoon is playing a gig, it’s duty to appear. I never heard anything of the FABRIK in Muttenz, so it’s a good surprise. I think there is place for about 150 – 200 people, there’s a little bar and some sofas where you can sit down and recover. So, let’s start now with the music!

CARNAGE

The first band of the evening are Carnage. It’s not easy to describe their style, there are Thrash, Death and some Modern Metal – influences, aggressive screaming, but also clean vocals. Unfortunately, there aren’t too much people, so Carnage get warm applause, but there isn’t any atmosphere at all. Sad bat true! Interesting: I know the drummer of Carnage (not personally, but from seeing), he was in the same school like me some time ago. Because Carnage actually have no bass player, the singer sometimes plays the second guitar, and sometimes the bass. I guess, now there are about 50 people in the room, but only two or three are banging. Carnage don’t care and they play very content, most of all the singer/ guitarist/ bassist, who really enjoys the gig. Then Mister Dupont senior appears (is there any concert where he’s not coming?) and some strange people are also here: One young lady wears a skater-helmet the whole evening…

Setlist Carnage

Trust

Dark Day

Generation

Who Am I

Time To Die

Gollum

Branchless

War

Cell

Sick Life

Nightmare

SWEET MASSACRE

Sweet Massacre rules! This band is indeed kind of funny: As Banner with the logo, they have a collage with the heads from Krusty, the clown (from The Simpsons), The Mask, and the dog of The Mask. The band consists of only two persons, and because they have no drummer, they always have to change: Once, the first guy sings and plays the guitar and the other one the drums, then again the contrary. The musick is just damn great: fast and brutal Death Metal, with some Thrash – elements. And also the start is very cool: As intro, Sweet Massacre have “Darkness of Christ” from Slayer, one of the greatest intros ever. And finally, more people are banging, and also the applause is louder and there’s a lot of cheering. Also funny: The singtitels: “This song is called: Alkohol!” A short destroyer, then: “And after Alkohol comes Alkohol Part 2!” Yeah, THIS is original! “The next song is called: Chihuahua!” Fantastic, a 30-seconds brutal Death Metal-version of DJ Bobo. Sweet Massacre win more and more the favour of the audience. There are also some very young guys, which looks around kind of fascinated because of this long-haired, banging and screaming people. “Now we’ll play a cover of Dying Fetus, you have to decide, if we’re good enough!” Hehe, sympathetic band. Then comes the moment of a guy called Dominik: He’s absolutely drunk, moshes alone around, makes grimaces and growles things which nobody understands. From time to time, his – also absolutely drunk – cousin comes and they bang together. What a picture! Sweet Massacre are so good, that they have to play an extra song: Another cover, from Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (I forgot the title), but it’s again great and the first winners of the evening are: Sweet Massacre!

ZATOKREV

Zatokrev are brutal. They are extreme. I never heard something like Zatokrev. They call their sound a mixture between Hardcore and Doom. Deep, long riffs, an absolutely inhumane voice, pounding drums, an enormous soundwall – impressive. Singer and guitarist Freddy doesn’t make announcements, during the breaks between the songs, there’s just long and high guitar-feeping. Some people leave the room, but most of the crowd stays and joins this experience. I can’t say how many songs they played, because every one seems to be endless. The drunken Dominik continues his show and gets on people’s nerves, because not everybody wants to make a moshpit, most of the crowd wants to bang. Bassman Marco jumps around, Freddy bangs like fool, and its’ easy to see that they’re absolutely drowned in their music, if nobody wouldn’t stand in front of the stage, they wouldn’t even remark it. Once, Freddy lays on the stage, rolls around and continues playing, Marco sits down, guitar- and bass-strings tear. So before the last song, they have tom repair their instruments. Also some words about Drummer Silvio: As ex-Drummer, it’s fantastic to look at him, he’s absolutely precious, every break is perfect. Zatokrev’s music is very intensive, and so everyone needs a break after the gig. Compliments and horns up!!

DARKMOON

After the break, finally Darkmoon enter the stage. And there’s no question why they’re headliner. Now there more and more bangers in front of the stage, and the band, like the last time in Allschwil, gives everything from the first second on. After the cool “Omen”- Intro, hell’s unleashed. Just one bad thing: Because it’s already very late, some people have to leave to get the last tram, so at the end, there are only about 40 people left. But it doesn’t matter: The one who stayed make noise and ginger up Darkmoon. Of course the first highlight is “Black Domain”, the titletrack of the actual Demo-CD. Singer Matthias is agile live ever, he’s just an absolute sovereign frontman. And his voice is just great: deep, dark, aggressive, pure extreme Metal! And the rest of the band is also tight as fuck: Every riff, every solo is played perfect, and that’s very important if you’re a band like Darkmoon which changes from one second to the other from hellfire to cold, epic and in a special way beautiful melodies. Darkmoon also perform a brand new song, and Matthias announces that’s in the Göteborg-Style. I can tell you: It’s a killer! The band has some problems with the drums at the beginning of the set, and so Matthias asks, to entertain the crowd, during the reparations: “Are there only few people here because today the pope is in Berne? Or because there’s the MTV-Movie-Award in Television?” Well, I think both of the proposals are wrong, hehe… I don’t have to say that Dominik is still doing his way of moshing, so I don’t say it. They play songs from each demo, and it’s a good mixture. It’s also great to see how Darkmoon give 100% for the people, also when there isn’t full house at all. Then Matthias asks: “Are you ready for the beast? Well, you might be, but we aren’t”. But then they’re ready and the concert goes on. Then it’s time for the last song: Roswell 47 from Hypocrisy. “Are you ready for…”, suddenly, Matthias and the rest of the band turn around and look at drummer Hubi, which is vomiting on the floor. Guitarist Christian looks a bit pissed on, but the crowd waits patiently, and finally, Darkmoon can continue, and their version of this classic is just brilliant. After it, the band leaves the stage, but the people want more. But it seems like it’s over, but when I return some minutes later, Darkmoon are again on stage. The Intro “The Darkside” is playing, and then comes one of the best Darkmoon-Songs: “Drowning”. So many bang-parts, such a great riff, such a fantastic song… Just bang and enjoy!! Then it’s over, the people applaud and cheer once more, and the Metal - evening is already finished. It was absolutely great, Darkmoon we’re the best band of the billing, there were just not enough people. Be there next time, when Darkmoon is calling…

Setlist Darkmoon

Omen (Intro)

The Deceiver

On Her Grave

Lost Souls

Black Domain

Last Kiss

Terror

The Bitter End

The Damned

Far From Heaven

Drowning